February 24, 2011

The Tucson Post that Was

The Tucson Gem and Mineral shows are just a fond memory. The tradeshow gang is back, rested (!) and preparing for our next adventure at the Bead&Button Show coming up in June.

There have been a lot of Tucson recap posts in the blogoshere lately, but we wanted to share a few memorable moments from the tradeshow floor from our booth at the To Bead True Blue show.

Meet our neighbors, the fine folks at Knot Just Beads. They have a cute store in Greenfield, WI. Robert is an awesome lampworked bead artist and came in 2nd place in the 2010 Bead&Button BeadDreams contest with his SUPERCOOL "Just a Bunch of Nails" entry. It was hard to resist the beautiful crystals that they had in their booth.

Just to the north (?) of KJB were the fine ladies from Nunn Design. That's Donna, posting for the camera and Aisha helping a customer. They were demonstrating and showing off the new products that Becky has in her line. (You can view her FREE class right here.)

Just to the south (?) we had the lovely Leah Fairbanks and her amazing lampworked beads. A true pioneer in the business Leah has inspired many with her amazing floral-themed beads. Missing from the picture is her husband Derek Lusk owner of Opal Illusions. (His beautiful Oregon Sunstone beads are really amazing!)

There was also a lot of meeting and greeting. We saw so many friends come by the booth. Two ladies that we are always happy to see are Karen Keegan (left) Events Manager at Interweave Press and Denise Peck Editor of Interweave's Step By Step Wire Jewelry Magazine.

We actually did not socialize all day.

There is Kris G. demonstrating how to use the Power Punch Pliers. We love doing demos at the shows that we go to. It's great that we can do "mini classes" right on the spot!

Here is Colin, the master of all she surveys. You can see the tempting view from our booth. A vast sea of beady goodness. There were tempting treasures everywhere!

All in all it was a great trade show. We were so happy to see so many customers both old and new. We even met the president of the Beaducation Fan Club. (Okay, so it's a club that she started and she is the only member, but it's really easy to have meetings that way.) Debbie, it was so nice to chat with you and I am sorry to say the photo that we took vanished somewhere between my old phone and my computer.

Next up we'll have quick post on the most popular demo in the booth. It's cute, quick and a perfect way to showcase metal stamping. Have a great weekend everybody!

1 comment:

I visited the booth on Saturday or Sunday, I can't remember which (Tucson and bead buying is ALWAYS a blur!) but Colin was really helpful and patient letting me try out a brass hammer and the Thumb Saver tool. I also was able to get the Wackadoodle set, but you need to get one for numbers, too! I left with my wallet a bit lighter, but with alot of fun new stuff, Thanks!